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As promised, I am writing a blog about the last week of March – aka CRUISE!!!!

When we went on the cruise in 2015 I decided not to take my Garmin with me, but after walking back and forth from the Lido deck (10th floor, and where the food and pools were) to the room (2nd floor at the front of the ship) I realized there was a lot of walking. After that experience I decided that I would make it a point to take it on this cruise, and I did…

From the very beginning of Sunday (3/26) we were walking. From the lines to the boat were really put in the steps for what was actually just a half day of “cruising”. Once the boat pulled away from the dock we walked to the Lido deck to get a snack, then back to the room to unpack, then to the dinning hall (which was on the back side of the boat as well), to the Encore Theatre for the safety briefing and then up to the Serenity Deck looking at the stars. When we went to bed that night, I took my Garmin off – I racked up 3.07miles! I was floored. I knew there had been a lot going on, but 3 miles worth, didn’t believe it. So I chalked it up to the lines and the activities and decided that with Monday being the first day at sea would be my indicator on an accurate number of steps, so I went to sleep and called it a night. Day 1: 3.07 miles

Monday (3/27) morning before rolling out of bed I put the Garmin back on. To the Lido deck for breakfast, to the coffee shop for real coffee (side note: the coffee on the boat really sucked) to the casino, to the room, to trivia, back to the Lido deck, to the room, to dinner, to the comedy show… back to the Serenity deck for the more star gazing. It was a full day. Definitely a full day. At around 10:30 we decided to call it a day and went back to the room for bed. I looked at my Garmin and 4.09miles. WHATTHE??!!?? Day 2: 4:09miles

Tuesday (3/28) was another sea day. This day I decided to do a little walking. This time on purpose. After Lido for breakfast and coffee house for coffee, we walked the whole Deck 5. This has a really cool outside deck that goes all the way around the ship. Made that trek twice. Then off to do more adventuring. Trivia, casino, food, the room, the front of the boat… yes, I said, “I’m king of the world!” at least once, music in the main lobby, drinks, dinner, fun, and more walking Deck 5… it was truly a great day. The end of the night and I checked my Garmin and damn, 4.63 miles! I really started to see a pattern! Day 3: 4.63 miles.

Wednesday (3/29) was out port in Jamaica, we went to a private beach and it was beautiful. Seriously a little piece of Heaven. We sat under a palm tree for shade and just looked out over the water. I loved it. It was only 3.5 hours, but it was wonderful. After the excursion we got back on the boat and did the usual – get ready for dinner, do dinner, and then goof off after. Totaling 3.87 miles. Day 4: 3.87 miles

Thursday (3/30) – another excursion day. This time in Grand Caymans. It was a beautiful boat ride to a sandbar and Katie kissing a stingray (which is supposed to be 7 years good luck). Then a nice lunch with some tactless wait staff, but hey, I guess they lived on island time?? Anyway, back to the boat and back to have more fun. That day left us beat down and super tired. However even with all of that we put in 5.17 miles. HOLY COW! I would not have believed it!!! Day 5: 5.17 miles

Friday (3/31) was the day I was looking most forward to. I was going to be going to see the Mayan Ruins. It was something that I know MoMo would have been jealous of. She loved to see historical remnants like that. Side note – the Mayans used shells in their road so when the moonlight hit it, it glowed. Awesome fun fact for you. When we got to the ruins in Cozumel I did not realize how much walking we would be doing. Color me crazy but I truly did not think about it. The walk around the grounds put us at over three miles. When we got done there we went to this little sea side cantina and had pico… and holy cow, it was ridiculous. After getting back on the ship we had more fun – dinner, fun, shows, etc…. putting my Friday total at 5.81 miles! Day 6: 5.81miles

Saturday – the start of April… I was not going to talk about this day since it will be part of my Hello April, but with the last day on the boat we chilled. Did some more trivia, got in some bingo, watched a show, you know… just chilled. Funny thing, we still got in 3.49 miles! I cannot believe for as lazy as we were, it was still a lot of walking! Day 7: 3.49 miles

I know this blog is about #becomingabetterme and vacation is a time of doing exactly what you want, and indulging in things that are not so good for you, but all of the walking I did… I would have to say I keep myself going. Sure, I might have had dessert, or even a drink or two, but I felt better about myself being there!

2017 has already been a rough year for me, not getting to the gym like I need to, or maybe doing short cuts at dinner or at lunch… just really not doing what I need to to become the better me I have been trying to keep going for the last 2 plus years… but I can say knowing that I could put in that many miles and still have a good time reminds me that I can get off of the couch and take a walk, even if it isn’t in an exotic location!

Had a conversation with a friend today (you know who you are… and thank you for the kick in the butt) and I was reminded that my HELLO MARCH was a little behind. Even if I hadn’t had a chance to type it all out, I did keep track of my miles! I will be posted a vacation post, but let me say, that out of my 50 miles, 26 of those were from being on the cruise ship. YES! I said on a cruise I racked up over half of my miles… I wont go into detail as I will be doing another blog, but as for March – here goes!

Let’s be honest, we all need a break! We spend eight hours of every day facing the grind and stressing about the next work disaster around the corner. Then we spend an additional hour at the gym sweating off pounds that plague us. After that we spend the rest of our waking hours cleaning, cooking, shopping, tending to the kids, yelling at the kids, surfing the net, or watching trials and tribulations on TV. All of these things can take a toll on us. Once in awhile we need a break. We just need to escape.

That is where Angel and I were. We needed a break. A girls trip where we weren’t racing, just going somewhere to relax and let the time pass with the sounds of the waves. Literally, we wanted to go somewhere warm, sunny, and on a beach!

On Friday morning at 2am we left her drive way on our way to Panama City Beach for a long weekend.

When Angel booked our room she surprised me by getting, what I considered, a small condo. It really wasn’t, but with a bedroom area, a living/dining room area, a full size fridge, an apartment size stove with an oven, table settings (for 4), and pots and pans it worked out better than expected! I cannot lie, I was concerned about putting back on all the weight I just worked so hard to get off, so we talked about how we could still enjoy the trip, but be responsible at the same time… that is where the kitchen and Angel’s great planning came in.

When we arrived, we sat down and made a grocery list so we would eating breakfast and lunch in the room, and then enjoying ourselves for dinner.

We bought eggs, salad mix, fresh veggies, smoked sausage, fresh fruit, almond milk, coffee (of course I had coffee!), and fresh pico. All of the makings of paleo/whole 30 compliant meals. It was vacation after all, so there was beer an angel food cake, and creamer for the coffee. Although these items were not “on the diet” I did not feel bad about having them!

Being healthy is more than diet alone, it involves exercise too, so we covered that as well!

Our room was a little over a half mile from the pier and Pier Park (the outdoor style mall). This distance gave us the opportunity to walk to Margaritaville on Saturday night and then around Pier Park. Our grand total of miles: 3.9! We also flailed around in the heated pool, for a little more exercise. We got to finish our night with a beer, the sunset, and a hot tub to relax even more.For Sunday we walked on the beach down to the pier, all the way out on the pier, back around the mall with a stop for ice cream, and then back to the hotel. The pool water felt amazing, so using the floaty boards (I am going to admit that is a Heatherism because I have no idea what they are really called) and pool noodles just added to the 5.3 miles we got in that day.

Moral of this story, we had a vacation and I HAD A BLAST!

I didn’t go crazy, I had a beer, I had ice cream, I even had some angel food cake, but I wasn’t scared to get on the scale when I got home. Every now and then you do have to let go. Have an ice cream, have a beer, have fun! Come home refreshed and then have a lil chat with the scale and move on, and that is what I am doing.

**For those of you curious, the scales told me that my long weekend cost me three pounds, and I am fine with that. I will have that back off in no time!